


Flower Shops and Filled Slushie Cups

by Cant_We_Just_Dance



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Be More Chill - Ned Vizinni
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, First Meetings, Fluff, Jurassic Park Reference, M/M, Slushies, They Say Fuck, barely, but like, dick joke, flower shop au, giveaway prize
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 07:39:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12601596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cant_We_Just_Dance/pseuds/Cant_We_Just_Dance





	Flower Shops and Filled Slushie Cups

Days like these, with soft winds wrapping around your mind, were always Michael's favorite. The world would flow around him as the music flowed through his headphones, sometimes slung over the back of his neck, and other times neatly tucked on his head beneath the red hood of his well-worn, well-loved jacket. Sometimes, he’d simply have a slushie in hand as he walked down the street, no matter how cold the weather found itself to be on that particular day.

After school, he always walked down the same streets on his way home. Passed the same stores, ran his fingers along the vines of the same rosebushes and smiled at the same faces as they passed him on their own way to their homes. But today was different. Today, the world’s winds blew the opposite direction, and strands of Michael’s hair flew out from his forehead, dancing in the breeze that sent shivers down his spine. But he still had his slushie, of course- what would a cold day be without something to remind you that it could always be far colder?

A sudden pressure at his back caused the tall teen to topple over, splattering himself- and the neon blue drink- all over the pavement. Turning over and shaking off the stickiness from his sleeves, he looked upwards and found himself gazing at a tall teenaged boy, one he’d seen at school occasionally, but never really talked to. After a few seconds of laying on the ground. It became apparent to Michael that the boy was murmuring something, with wide, panicked eyes.

“Oh fuck I’m so sorry, shit, please let me- oh your books are…” The teen stammered, shifting his gaze between the boy on the ground and his books, which had spilled out of his backpack, and directly into the gutter, which was at that moment filled with murky rainwater and filth. “I-I’m sorry….”

“Don’t sweat it,” Michael replied calmly, kneeling and picking up his books and bag. He slung his bag over one shoulder, and held the sopping wet books close to his chest- it would do no good to get everything else wet- as he stood up and smiled at the other teen, who was wearing a green apron and a name tag in looping cursive. “You don’t happen to have some paper towels, do ya… Jeremy?”

“I-I do,” Jeremy answered, helping Michael up and practically dragging him into the pink-tinted windowed store that he always passed on his way home, but had never cared enough to enter. “S-Stay there, I’ll go grab some rags from the back, and… A change of clothes? You p-probably still have to walk where you were going, a-and you don’t wanna be s-sticky.

“You don’t have to get me anything I’m sure I’ll be fine. Just some wet paper towels would be great,” Michael told him, smiling kindly and feeling his eyes crinkle ever so slightly in the corners from it. “This is a nice place- but you don’t really seem like the kind of guy to be into… Botany.”

“Well, my friend’s mom owns this place, and I needed a job,” Jeremy explained, reaching behind the counter and grabbing a roll of paper towels and a half-empty water bottle, one of those bright green reusable ones. “Here’s my water and some paper towels. We aren’t supposed to let customers into the back, and that’s where the sink is, so I’m sorry about that. You can just pour water here, don’t worry about the mess, I have to mop today anyway,”

“Oh, how romantic,” Michael teased, ripping off a paper towel from the roll and folding it in half before pouring water onto it. He began rubbing it against his jeans, leaving little white specks against the sticky denim as he frowned- this wasn’t going to get it out, was it? “You know, letting someone else drink from your water bottle is almost exactly the same thing as kissing- less erotic, for sure, but it still swaps the same germs, dude. Didn’t know you were so willing to swap spit with me. If I’d known, I would've worn something a little more flattering.”

Jeremy felt his cheeks blush a vibrant shade of scarlet, one to rival even the bright roses in full bloom just over his left shoulder. Biting his lower lip nearly hard enough to draw blood, he averted his gaze from Michael and began idly fiddling with his hands as a way to push out the nervous energy. “I-I didn’t mean it like that… You aren’t going to drink out of it, are you? B-because I don’t think we have dish soap in the back and I’d rather not have someone get it contaminated because germs are horrible and oh my god what if there are already germs on it what if-”

“I don’t have germs, and I wasn’t actually going to drink out of your water bottle,” Michael reassured him, cutting him off in the process. “Sorry for making it seem like that’s what I was going to do- I didn't actually mean anything by it. I’m more of a slushie guy anyways. Water’s too boring for me. Why drink plain old water when you can have an unnaturally colored frozen drink?”

“...Because it’s almost freezing cold outside?” Jeremy suggested jokingly, leaning against the counter awkwardly and mustering up a weak smile to match the attempted joke. “I’m sorry, that was a dumb thing to sa-”

Michael began chuckling, his voice a low, amber-like tone, as if it were dripping honey down a golden-leaf tree. “N-no… It’s kinda funny, actually… I’ve always liked slushies, they’re sweet and cold and way cheaper than some Starbucks specialty bullshit. I just… I don’t see why the weather should affect what you like to drink- do you?”

“Yeah, I do,” Jeremy retorted playfully, “It’s because it’s fucking cold outside, and I have no interest in freezing my dick off. You, on the other hand, seem to have no problem with parting with your balls on a day when it gets too cold and all you have to cheer yourself up is a frozen drink.”

Despite -or perhaps because of- Jeremy clasping his hand over his mouth in sudden realization of what he’d just said, Michael clutched his stomach and keeled over in laughter, dropping his damp paper towel to the floor as he struggled to hold back laughter enough for himself to breathe even just a little bit.

Casting his gaze upwards for just a moment, Michael caught a glimpse of something he wasn’t entirely sure he was meant to see. Instead of mortified, as he’d expected Jeremy to have an expression of, it was a show of… relief, in a strange sort of way. But this was not a relieving situation, Michael thought to himself, looking back down at the floor and trying to keep a steady stream of thought through his laughter. Why would someone be relieved at making another person laugh? Sure, landing a joke with a new acquaintance is not an easy task, but that is a different sort of relief that one would find themselves in. This was a kind of relief that wound around like vines around Jeremy’s fingertips, the thorns no longer present, and instead, in their place was soft pink blossoms.

Jeremy’s eyes were not wide with the fear of earlier, or narrowed in impatience as he waited for Michael’s laughter to cease. In fact, they were simply set in a gentle gaze, smiling almost subconsciously at the sunlight streaming through the windows and onto the dark waves of the red-clad teen’s hair. He would never admit it, but he was waiting for a moment such as this one- a moment with smiles and the room filled with sweet scents and laughter. Not with a girl, but with a person of his own gender- which was something Jeremy would never have to admit, but he did try his best to push away such thoughts. After all, no one would ever have to know, right?

Right.

“Uh….” Michael murmured, biting his lower lip sharply as he inspected the damage to his pants and shirt. “Mind if I take you up on that offer of a change of clothes?”

“Not at all,” Jeremy replied easily, smiling softly and reaching beneath the counter and pulling out a set of well-worn clothes. “I keep a change of street clothes, since we have uniforms here. Just promise to bring them back? Maybe wash them, too, when you’re done? I don’t like-”

“Germs, yeah,” Michael cut him off, not in an unkind way, as he took the clothes and headed to the bathroom to change, bidding Jeremy goodbye with a tiny wave and smirk.

Fuck. Michael wasn’t going to be easy to push to the back of his mind, now was he?

 

* * *

The ringing of a bell marked the entrance of a customer through the door, although the loud creaks of old hinges might as well have been the only signifier Jeremy needed. Turning his head to the left and drawing his focus away from the daisy arrangement in front of him, he felt a grin form on his face as he realized who exactly had just entered the room.

“Jeremy, my buddy!” Michael exclaimed, setting a slushie on the table- a red one instead of the icy blue color that the teen was usually so fond of. His expression was one of nervous excitement, verging on anxiety, although it was fairly well hidden to untrained eyes. “How’s it hanging?”

“Michael, I didn’t expect to see you here again so soon after what happened- I’m still really sorry about that,” Jeremy explained, forgetting to answer the question in his sudden fit of nervousness, which he was prone to when in the presence of a boy that made his heartbeat speed up and his palms sweaty and his eyes unfocused-

“Don’t worry about it,” Michael shrugged it off, motioning a ‘don’t worry’ signal with his hands, golden skin a contrast to the light violet, half-chipped-off paint of the front counter. “The clothes fit well- actually, they were kinda tight- you’re one thin dude.”

“Th-Thanks?” Jeremy muttered, mustering up a weak smile as Michael pulled the clothes out of his backpack- which was slung over one shoulder, just like last time (and fuck, why did Jeremy remember that?)- and set it on the counter, already folded and smelling softly of lavender soap. “I’ll put these back in my bag in a minute- why doesn’t your slushie have a straw in it? You figure out a way to inject it straight into your blood?”

“Not yet,” Michael replied teasingly, pulling a red straw out of his jacket pocket, the plastic wrapper crinkling softly in the otherwise-quiet store. “But trust me- life finds a way. And actually… This is for you.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow as Michael set the straw down on the counter as he grinned softly. “You sure, man? It’s pretty damn cold outside, and I’m gonna have to go to the back and tend to the winter flowers which are cold sons of bitches… You’d probably enjoy it more than I would, since you have to keep walking home.”

“It’s a thank-you,” Michael explained, biting his lower lip as he struggled to keep his grin from falling from his face. “For the change of clothes- which I did wash, by the way. I don’t like spiders, and you don’t like germs, so… I kinda understand how it feels. I wouldn’t want you to fill my jacket with spiders- and you work in a flower shop, wouldn’t be too hard for you to find bugs, anyways….”

“Well… Thanks,” Jeremy said softly, taking the straw and unwrapping it, before sticking it in the frozen drink and pulling it closer to himself. “And how’d you know that I like red slushies?”   


“Lucky guess,” Michael murmured, still smiling as he pulled his backpack over his shoulder and walked through the door.

But Jeremy had a soft inkling of a feeling that the other teen would be back again.

After all, just like Michael had said- life finds a way.


End file.
